Insightful, compassionate and humorous.
While humans have turned pets into quasi family members, writes human-animal relations expert Herzog (Psychology/Western Carolina Univ.) in his debut, our love for animals clashes with our dietary habits and more.
The author is fascinated with “the often whacky ways that people relate to other species.” Over the years he has attended animal-rights protests, witnessed serpent-handling church services and clandestine cock fights, mingled with vegans and eaten raw steaks, all while pondering serious ethical issues—the rights and wrongs of using laboratory animals for his research projects, the food he consumed, etc. As an animal lover who is not only an “anthrozoologist” but a meat eater, he asks himself how “60% of Americans [can] believe simultaneously that animals have a right to live, but people have the right to eat them.” Herzog writes about big subjects with a light touch. The author deals with the vagaries of the human relationship to dogs and attempts to determine the thinking of “the first person [who] decided that a ball of fur could be a friend rather than a meal,” perhaps 40,000 years ago. He also calls out the deplorable behavior of modern dog fanciers whose efforts to create the perfect breed have produced millions of canines who suffer from severe physical problems as a result, in “a triumph of style over substance.” While many Americans, like Herzog, respect the moral stance of vegetarians, polls show that “between 97% and 99% of Americans sometimes eat flesh.” As a middle-of-the-roader on this issues and on the use of laboratory animals in medical research, the author has come to the conclusion that such “moral quagmires are inevitable in a species with a huge brain and big heart.” Despite our inconsistencies and callousness as a species, chimpanzees, our closest primate relatives, do not show the slightest sign of remorse when ripping a tasty arm off a fellow primate.
Insightful, compassionate and humorous.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-173086-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
An eclectic assortment of women make for an entertaining read.
An exuberant celebration of more than 100 women who shaped the myths and realities of New York City.
In her debut book, journalist Scelfo, who has written for the New York Times and Newsweek, aims to counter histories of New York that focus only on “male political leaders and male activists and male cultural tastemakers.” As the author discovered and shows, the contributions of women have been deeply significant, and she has chosen a copious roster of personalities, gathered under three dozen rubrics, such as “The Caretakers” (pioneering physicians Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, who enacted revolutionary hygienic measures in early-20th-century tenements); “The Loudmouths” (Joan Rivers and Better Midler); and “Wall Street” (brokerage firm founder Victoria Woodhull and miserly investor Hetty Green). With a plethora of women to choose from, Scelfo aimed for representation from musical theater, law enforcement, education, social justice movements, and various professions and organizations. Some of the women are familiar (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for her preservation work; Brooke Astor for her philanthropy), some iconic (Emma Lazarus, in a category of her own as “The Beacon”), and some little-known (artist Hildreth Meière, whose art deco designs can be seen on the south facade of Radio City Music Hall). One odd category is “The Crooks,” which includes several forgettable women who contributed to the city’s “cons and crimes.” The author’s brief, breezy bios reveal quirky facts about each woman, a form better suited to “The In-Crowd” (restaurateur Elaine Kaufman, hardly a crowd), entertainers (Betty Comden, Ethel Waters), and “The Wisecrackers” (Nora Ephron, Tina Fey) than to Susan Sontag, Edith Wharton, and Joan Didion. Nevertheless, the book is lively and fun, with something, no doubt, to pique anyone’s interest. Heald’s blithe illustrations add to the lighthearted mood.
An eclectic assortment of women make for an entertaining read.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58005-653-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Seal Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...
A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.
Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.
The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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